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While campaigning, Obama repeatedly said things like “transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this Presidency.”

However, that appears to be yet another “campaign promise” that he never intended on fulfilling.

Recall the exchange during the “health care summit” between John McCain and Obama recently, where McCain mentioned to Obama that during the campaign he promised to bring “change in Washington” and hasn’t done so.

To that Obama responded that “we’re not campaigning any more. The election is over.” And with that, any hope that Obama meant what he said while campaigning should be out the window.

As far as his campaign promise of transparency, the AP is reporting that his administration is actually far more secretive than the much hated Bush admin.

…the Obama administration is more often citing exceptions to the nation’s open records law to withhold federal records even as the number of requests for information decline.

Among the most frequently cited reasons for keeping records secret: one that Obama specifically told agencies to stop using so frequently. The Freedom of Information Act exception, known as the “deliberative process” exemption, lets the government withhold records that describe its decision-making behind the scenes.

Major agencies cited the exemption at least 70,779 times during the 2009 budget year, up from 47,395 times during President George W. Bush’s final full budget year, according to annual reports filed by federal agencies. Obama was president for nine months in the 2009 period.

So in 9 months he was almost 70% as secretive than Bush was in 1 year, which with that trend would roughly work out to being twice as secretive as the previous administration.

In a new statement Tuesday, Obama noted the release of White House visitor logs and federal data online in recent months said his administration was recommitted “to be the most open and transparent ever.”

More words and no action.

“We are proud of these accomplishments, but our work is not done,” Obama said. “We will continue to work toward an unmatched level of transparency, participation and accountability across the entire administration.”

This is the great thing about Obama, and many other politicians. A lot of times when a person lies, they just try to alter the truth slightly, in order to make it believable. When Obama is faced with facts showing that he is TWICE AS SECRETIVE as the evil, hated Bush, he says that he is “proud of these accomplishments.” It’s stunning.

And wait, that’s not even the best part. They are also withholding information about their efforts to be transparent. I’m going to repeat that real quick. THEY ARE ALSO WITHHOLDING INFORMATION ABOUT THEIR EFFORTS TO BE TRANSPARENT.

The administration has stalled even over records about its own efforts to be more transparent. The AP is still waiting—after nearly three months—for records it requested about the White House’s “Open Government Directive,” rules it issued in December directing every agency to take immediate, specific steps to open their operations up to the public.

The White House on Tuesday described the directive as “historic,” but the Office of Management and Budget still has not responded to AP’s request under the Freedom of Information Act to review internal e-mails and other documents related to that effort.

This administration really is a joke. This is as insulting as a slap in the face to any person who stays informed about politics. Anyone who can explain this away or forgive this is not being sincere or intellectually honest.